When David "WhiteThunder" Trottier wanted to drum up in-line skaters' interest in a new skate wheel he planned to distribute, he dropped by the place skaters go near his St. Michael, North Dakota, three-employee company, WhiteThunder Inc. He didn't bring any wheels to show the four skaters he found there. Instead, he brought a supply of skater jargon and a tantalizing offer.

"I asked them, `Do you grind? Do you do any half-pipes?' " Trottier says. "The kids looked at me and asked, `How do you know all this?' I just said I wanted to give a kid a set of wheels to test for me. The next night I came back, and there were 20 kids waiting to see the wheel."

Trottier's interest-building ploy is a tactic of situational leadership, a model of leading that says there is no one right way to influence people. Rather, there are several ways, any one of which may be appropriate depending on the level of readiness and the ability of the people who are to be led.

Although it sounds simple or even obvious, situational leadership has been taught to millions of managers worldwide. The source of situational leadership's popularity is its effectiveness and ease of application, says Dewey Johnson, a professor of management at California State University, Fresno.

"The reason it works is that it puts the focus on the follower," explains Johnson. "You find out where the follower is as far as ability and willingness. Then, based on where the follower is in relationship to the objective, you see the right leadership style that goes along with it. The concept is elegant in its simplicity."

Situational Start

The situational leadership model was developed in the 1960s by
an Ohio State University management professor named Paul Hersey.
His research into the psychology of leadership was published in
1969 in Management of Organizational Behavior (Prentice
Hall), a textbook that has sold more than 1 million copies and is
in its seventh edition. Hersey later founded the Center for
Leadership Studies, a management training firm in Escondido,
California, that has helped teach the model to people in small and
large companies worldwide.

The situational leadership model assumes that the biggest
mistake most managers make is using the same leadership style with
everyone. For instance, leaders may delegate too much authority to
an employee who isn't ready or able to handle it. Or, they may
micromanage an employee who would perform better if left alone.

Situational leadership promises to help managers figure out
where their followers are, then match their leadership styles to
the appropriate level. "Situational leadership introduces a
diagnostic process to leadership," says Johnson, who, along
with Hersey and management guru Ken Blanchard, co-wrote
Management of Organizational Behavior. "That is a big
plus."

The situational leadership model divides followers into four
readiness levels, based on their willingness and ability. The
levels range from R1 (the lowest) to R4 (the person who is most
ready, willing and able to handle the task at hand).

Determining readiness levels can be tricky. Leaders may need to
take into account a variety of factors, from the time available to
complete a task to the organization's history and tradition.
Hersey's model provides specific tools to help in the diagnosis
as well as to evaluate and correct diagnostic errors.

"When you go through your diagnosis of the individual,
sometimes you're going to miss," says Jim Bone, president
of The Training Connection Inc., an Irving, Texas, company that
offers training in situational leadership. "But when you miss,
you're going to get some very predictable human reactions that
will tell you where you went wrong."

Hersey also offers a chest of tools for increasing
employees' readiness, including, for instance, offers of more
money.

Once the correct readiness level is identified, the leader has
to choose from four leadership styles. The leadership styles range
from S1 through S4, with S1 being the most directive and S4 being
the style where managers turn over the greatest responsibility to
followers.

Trottier's informal market research on in-line skate wheels
was designed to match the readiness levels of his intended
customers. Other test marketers might have merely handed out sample
wheels or marketing materials with no explanation, but the
situational model said that the personal approach was a better way
to go in this case.

"In [rural areas], particularly where we were going to
start selling the wheel, the readiness of people when it comes to
[new trends in] in-line skating is very low," Trottier
explains. "So we've had to apply the style level to the
readiness level to determine what we tell them about the
wheel."

Situational Circumstances

Situational leadership works well whether you're a corporate
executive or a start-up entrepreneur, according to Ron Campbell,
president of the Center for Leadership Studies. "[In our
seminars,] we'll get the guy who's a manager at Big O Tires
down the road or a printing shop with 10 people, and we'll have
that person sit side by side with the VP of human resources at a
Fortune 500 company," says Campbell.

The situational model works best when dealing with employees who
don't already have their minds made up to be uncooperative,
Campbell says. Bone feels situational leadership is most useful
when it comes to new employees. "That's where you get the
opportunity to exercise all the different styles the most," he
says. "With employees you've worked with for 10 years,
most of the time you're using a style of just
delegating."

Situational leadership isn't the optimal tool for all
occasions, either. It functions well, for instance, in businesses
where people are the key ingredients. It's less effective and
appropriate in situations where the driving factors are processes
or technology. "In an oil refinery, you can't decide that
one day you want to turn off this pipe and turn on another
one," says Johnson. "There's a process you have to
follow."

Situational leadership may also be inappropriate in
organizations that have deeper underlying problems. Campbell says
the center discourages firms whose practices and policies hinder
leadership from using its programs. "You're not going to
teach leadership skills that nullify the effect of dumb
management," he says.

Even under the best circumstances, you can go wrong trying to
follow the situational model. The main risk is making an incorrect
diagnosis of the follower's readiness level. This typically
happens when a leader tries to move too quickly or on the basis of
insufficient or incorrect information.

Most risks can be avoided by keeping to the model's focus on
followers more than leaders, says Campbell. "Don't worry
about the leader's behavior as much as diagnosing where the
follower is," he advises. "Be follower-driven."

Entrepreneurs who want to learn more about situational
leadership have a rich array of books, videos, audiotapes, seminars
and even an interactive CD-ROM from which to choose. Perhaps
because it is so widespread, situational training is inexpensive
compared to many other leadership programs. A two-day seminar at
Campbell's center costs $595. Many colleges and other training
sources offer courses for $100 a day or less.

Situational leaders themselves say taking a training course is a
good educational value, with broad applications in many areas of
life. "What situational leadership does for you is make you
assess all situations better, not only in your role as a leader,
manager and supervisor," says Trottier, "but as a human
being."

Mark Henricks is an Austin, Texas, writer who specializes in
small-business topics.